Thursday, December 11, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Mercury

Editor's Note: The Tao of negative campaigning

The 2004 political campaign's nasty and misleading candidate advertising has begun to arrive in local mailboxes.

I received a letter and flier last week from Jerry Tao, who is running for Clark County Commission in District C. Tao says he is "saddened and angered" by the G-Sting indictments of two former county commissioners and one current commissioner. Tao says "enough is enough" and it's "time to take back our government."

Fair enough, although Tao loses points for severe cliche abuse. Surely we're all "saddened and angered" by the alleged illicit behavior of former commissioners Erin Kenny and Lance Malone and current Commissioner Mary Kincaid-Chauncey. The only problem is that Tao is not running against any of them. District C's representative is Chip Maxfield, whose name has not been mentioned in connection with the federal G-Sting investigation.

Tao, a Clark County deputy district attorney, fails to mention this, obviously intending to paint Maxfield with the same tainted brush. Tao adds that Maxfield is a "developer," which is not true (he's a civil engineer), and says Maxfield "and his family make a lot of money from projects that come before him for votes," which may be true, considering that civil engineers often do work for developers. Tao, however, provides no evidence in his letter or flier to support this claim. (On his website, Tao does link to a few news stories about a conflict-of-interest charge against Maxfield stemming from a vote for a condo project. Maxfield defended his vote, saying he had no financial interest in the project.) Tao concludes that Maxfield "is a perfect example of what's wrong with the system."

That's a whole lot of ugliness to lay on Chip Maxfield.

Jerry Tao's picture on his campaign flier suggests a clean-cut, white-collar, upstanding fellow. On the back, he tells an inspiring story of his parents immigrating to America "with $50 and one suitcase in search of a better life." Fine stuff. But, sadly, his campaign strategy is nasty and misleading right off the bat. Not a good harbinger as the political season gears up.

For the record, I'm no fan of Maxfield. Seems like a nice enough guy, but he's no Jack Kennedy, if you get the idea. And while he's not a "developer," he is involved in the development industry, which means he has a certain mindset about 90 percent of what the County Commission does. Tao may be right that Maxfield has profited from his commission dealings, but it's not right to imply that Maxfield is mixed up in the G-Sting mess, or that he "only works for insiders and the well-connected and those rich enough to give huge campaign contributions." That might be an apt description of former commissioner Kenny, but it seems a little too dramatic for Maxfield.

If this District C race is getting ugly already, just wait for the dirty pool in County Commission District B, where Kincaid-Chauncey, who has been indicted in the G-Sting probe, is seeking re-election. Her opponents have some very wet dirt to muck around in there.

Of course this is just the first glimpse of an impending advertising blitz. 2004 will be dominated by political sleaze at the local, state and national levels. You know President Bush and his Democratic rivals will be mixing it up. The Democrats have loads of material to work with, while the Bush camp will look for ways to characterize the eventual challenger as another Michael Dukakis.

Let's be clear, though: Negative campaigning is not new and not inherently wrong. In fact, it's an important and relevant part of politics to point out your opponent's mistakes and shortcomings. The part that bothers me is when negative campaigns purposely distort the truth or perpetuate blatant lies. One of the Mercury's goals over the next 11 months will be to try to expose some of those lies and to give you a more informed foundation on which to cast your votes. I realize you may not vote anyway--many people don't--but perhaps our fact-checking still might make for some good reading.

By the way, no offense to Jerry Tao is intended. He's just getting the guff because he's first out of the gate. He likely received advice from cynical professionals for whom distorting reality is viewed as a necessary evil of politics. They've probably told him that this is how it must be done if he wants to win. They are wrong, but it may take Tao a little while to learn that.

--GEOFF SCHUMACHER
Sadly, his campaign strategy is nasty and misleading right off the bat. Not a good harbinger as the political season gears up.